DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34827#0351
1834-41.
335
well of Indians, I should go on smoothly with the Service ;
but I could not expect to be so popular as at Bombay, where
we forumd almost a family, every man comparatively knowing
his neighbour, and where I brought along with me an addition
of territory, increase to allowances, and a more liberal system of
government. In this last respect things have altered so fast
that I should be behind the age, instead of in advance. As
to the method of conducting business, having much personal
intercourse with people, my temper would be more tried, and it
is never suited for resisting sudden provocations, though they
are easily surmounted when there is time for reflection. I
should be incapable of speaking, even sufficiently for the discus-
sions in Council, and should make a wretched figure on all the
occasions where public harangues are required—opening of col-
leges, answers to addresses, even thanks for healths drunk. The
chance, therefore, is on the whole that I should not augment my
reputation; and if the amount which it is possible to gain, in
such times as I may look to, be put against what I may
possibly lose, the stakes are very unequal. As to money, say
that I save 50,00(B., I should be a poorer man for a Governor-
General than I am now for the private station which I occupy.
Titles, even if I gained them, wvmld be of no value unless
gained by actions, the chance of which has been discussed.
My time out there would pass in comparative misery. The
enervating and depressing climate, the irritation of constant
hurry, the deprivation of the quiet pursuits in which I de-
light, the constant constraint and publicity of life, would all
annoy me very much. At the end of my time, say five years'
actual residence (six with the voyages), I should be more a
man of this world than I am, but not enough to be quite at
home in it, and perhaps not quite so capable of enjoying
retirement and of entering with interest on a never-to-be-pub-
lished History of India as I am now ; and, moreover, I should be
sixty—a bad age for anything. On the whole, therefore, the
balance is against going, and ought to be made decidedly, from
the uncertainty whether Mr. Grant has withdrawn, and how
the Ministry is inclined. Having received civilities from Mr.
335
well of Indians, I should go on smoothly with the Service ;
but I could not expect to be so popular as at Bombay, where
we forumd almost a family, every man comparatively knowing
his neighbour, and where I brought along with me an addition
of territory, increase to allowances, and a more liberal system of
government. In this last respect things have altered so fast
that I should be behind the age, instead of in advance. As
to the method of conducting business, having much personal
intercourse with people, my temper would be more tried, and it
is never suited for resisting sudden provocations, though they
are easily surmounted when there is time for reflection. I
should be incapable of speaking, even sufficiently for the discus-
sions in Council, and should make a wretched figure on all the
occasions where public harangues are required—opening of col-
leges, answers to addresses, even thanks for healths drunk. The
chance, therefore, is on the whole that I should not augment my
reputation; and if the amount which it is possible to gain, in
such times as I may look to, be put against what I may
possibly lose, the stakes are very unequal. As to money, say
that I save 50,00(B., I should be a poorer man for a Governor-
General than I am now for the private station which I occupy.
Titles, even if I gained them, wvmld be of no value unless
gained by actions, the chance of which has been discussed.
My time out there would pass in comparative misery. The
enervating and depressing climate, the irritation of constant
hurry, the deprivation of the quiet pursuits in which I de-
light, the constant constraint and publicity of life, would all
annoy me very much. At the end of my time, say five years'
actual residence (six with the voyages), I should be more a
man of this world than I am, but not enough to be quite at
home in it, and perhaps not quite so capable of enjoying
retirement and of entering with interest on a never-to-be-pub-
lished History of India as I am now ; and, moreover, I should be
sixty—a bad age for anything. On the whole, therefore, the
balance is against going, and ought to be made decidedly, from
the uncertainty whether Mr. Grant has withdrawn, and how
the Ministry is inclined. Having received civilities from Mr.